JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A presentation was held Monday morning in Jacksonville’s Southbank on Duval DOGE, with Duval DOGE chair and Jacksonville City Councilman Ron Salem outlining the $25 million in savings he says it’s found so far. During the presentation, Salem said those savings have primarily come from leftover funding within capital improvement projects.
Salem says DOGE is now looking to use those funds to pay for other local projects, such as the newly proposed life guard station in Jacksonville Beach.
“We’re gonna leave the reserves alone, the auditors are identifying some DOGE money that we can pay for that, and that will come up in [the] finance [committee meeting] tomorrow,” Salem said.
Many in the audience came with questions and concerns for Councilmember Salem Monday morning, some challenging the lack of involvement of private business owners and everyday citizens in the committee.
“Why don’t you have a blue ribbon associate panel loaded with wonderful, experienced, simple-minded private folks that know big numbers and can handle it and bring an additional perspective?” one person asked from the crowd. “That troubled me when I heard it.”
“The thought was to reduce the animosity and concern,” Salem explained. “If we did not bring in people from the outside, we could tone down some of that resistance.”
Another major concern presented was the frequent public feuds between the committee and Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan’s administration.
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Davy Parrish is a longtime Jacksonville resident and told Action News Jax she’d like to see more bipartisan cooperation within Duval DOGE, as well as between it and city officials. There are no Democrats on the Duval DOGE Special Committee.
“That was my concern, is that there not be this huge division,” Parrish explained. “I understand a little conflict of course, some conflict. But not to the extent I think we’ve been seeing.”
Duval DOGE is now set to provide its final report and findings by June 23rd. Action News Jax will provide any updates as we learn more on the findings.
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